Feels like yesterday (or the day before)...

Happy Anniversary Peter!

Vacation Update

I decided it'd be kinda confusing to update the vacation and wedding at the same time so I thought I'd do one at a time.

Here's the vacation highlights...

We left for our vacation directly from my cousin Chelsea's graduation party on Saturday, July 14th. While we were up in Charlevoix we had a great time doing lots of different things. We spend 3 or 4 mornings on the beach- playing in sand, packing a picnic lunch and sometimes braving the freezing water.

We hit the condo pool about every day-- it's indoor/outdoor and the kids grew quite fond of taking the loop through inside and outside. By the end Matt would jump in with his float-- and Kayla was a little fish swimming around in her waterwings. (Matt's definitely a little more water cautious).

We went cherry picking for the first time as a family. We also found out that 6 pounds of cherry's is WAY too much for our family (Peter is the only one who really 'likes' cherry's... I could take or leave them...)

We went putt-putt golfing for the first time with the kids. After explaining to Matt that he couldn't "drive" the ball, we did pretty good. Matt got a hole in one, and Kayla was so cute raising her hands every time she got it in the hole like the pro's... I think they've been watching some golf with their uncles and capi :) "Golfing" was definitely one of Matt's favorite parts of our trip.

We only had one day of bad weather. It was a little rainy and cold on Wednesday, so we drove into Petoskey to Burger King with a big play area and hung out there letting the kids play on the playground for about 2 hours. (We had dinner here too). On the way back we stopped at a lookout and walked on the rocky shore picking up rocks from Petoskey (couldn't find any actual Petoskey stones).

On the way home we drove to Crystal Mountain to go to a water park that seemed fun for the kids (it has a play structure in the water). It was a little "overhyped" but the kids enjoyed it anyway. The peanut slept all the way to the water park (about 2 hours), then was up at the water park splashing around with us and then slept the whole way to the dinner (another 2 hours) was up for the hour at the dinner and then slept until we pulled into our sub (about 1 1/2 hours).

We pulled off the ultimate in budget vacations. I packed all but three of our meals for the trip ahead of time. We ate at BK, Pizza Hut and hit Wendy's on the way home. Including activities and non-packed meals on our week vacation we spent around $100 bucks for our family of five... it's gotta be some kinda record ;)

Many thanks to the Morrison family who allowed us the use of their awesome condo (it's in a prime downtown location as well). We had such an awesome time!

And now for the part you were really waiting for... the pics.

And We're Back...

I'll be sharing some pics and stories from our trip as soon as I can get a minute to sit down. Crazy week with Mark and MacKenzie's wedding Friday (not to mention the many loads of laundry that come with being away for a week!).

Potty Mouth X 2

Well, that age has arrived when not so nice words are SO funny and overused by the kids. "Funkybuttloving" (thanks to the Rookie of the Year Movie), and "naked" are two words that are frequenting our, well the kids vocabularies lately. I was trying to explain that there's a "time and place" to be goofy etc-- and that in public, we don't think those words are funny or nice to say-- kayla corected me though, telling me that "Matt say 'naked', me laugh". I think I'm fighting a losing battle... gotta love the built in audience that twins provide for each other.

Car Seat Info

After many requests for info, I have decided to post some of the research that we've done for car seat safety so those interested can read it too.



Our research has shown us five main things

* The US is mostly behind w/ laws for car seat safety. Many states are "working" on laws to change requiring extended harnessing, rear facing and booster laws-- but few have actually passed them. Most car seat technician's recommend Rear facing for 30+ pounds (limit of the seat) and at least 2 years old, Harnessing until at least 6 years, and boosters until 4'9'' and 80 pounds.

* Kids are safer rear facing as long as possible

* Kids are safer in a 5-point harness

* Kids are better in a booster until they're 4'9'' and 80 pounds

* Each step up (rear to forward facing- 5-point to booster) is actually a step down in safety. So-- in a world where "hitting milestones" is exciting, we should actually not look forward to changes in car seats.

REAR FACING INFO--


Reasons to Rear Face as long as possible:

Spine Development:

This picture is of a one year old's spine compared to a six year old's spine. The one year old's spine would actually allow 4-6 inches of movement of the spinal cord. However, the spinal cord will be damaged if it moves more than 1/4 inch.

Check out this article (and links to articles) about more benefits for rear-facing, as well as some of the science.

http://www.cpsafety.com/articles/StayRearFacing.aspx

Many people (as Peter and I did) assume that you must turn your kid around at 1 year and 20 pounds. Most car seats allow rear facing for 30+ pounds (so long as there is an inch of hard shell above the baby's head). The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends rear facing to the limit of your seat.

This was taken from the American Academy of Pediatrics site:


All infants should ride rear-facing until they have reached at least 1 year of age and weigh at least 20 pounds. That means that if your baby reaches 20 pounds before her first birthday, she should remain rear-facing at least until she turns 1 year old. It is best for children to ride rear-facing to the highest weight or height allowed by the manufacturer.

EXTENDED HARNESSING-

ALL people would be safer in a 5-point (which is why race car drivers use them). Due to practicality the “normal” seat belt was made. Car seat belts are designed to restrain full grown men—thus the reason that boosters and car seats are necessary.

This video is a crash test of a kid in a booster (closer to the front) and a kid in a 5-point (further away)—you can see how much more the kid in the booster is moving… almost out of the seat belt. Also the kid in the 5-point has the crash forces more equally distributed through their body rather than just across the chest/lap.

http://www.oeamtc.at/netautor/html_seiten/kisitest_2002/videos/test2002/frontcrash/maxicosirodi.mpg

- Seat belt failure can occur—see Kyle David Miller video—kids are smaller and more likely to be thrown outside the vehicle in situations of seat belt failure. Also- in a 5-point you have the further protection of the top tether strap.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=azgBhZfcqaQ

- Young children are more at risk for internal injury—liver lacerations are the most common. Watch the video “belle’s gift” about an Australian 3 yr old that was killed in a “minor” car accident due to the seat belt (she was in a high back booster). They talk about how they were ‘following’ the laws, but the law didn’t explain that they were still putting their daughter at risk. Everyone else in the car walked away.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y2LFo8vVi04

- The US is among very few “wealthy” countries that do not require a child to be in a car seat until at least 65 pounds—many people are trying to change that—but laws are passed by states regarding car seat safety… we're still pretty far from this.

- Kids are less mature than adults—often leaning forward when in just boosters or moving the straps around (not allowing them to be tight enough)—the 5-point harness prevents this from occurring.

- Kids spines are not fully formed until around age 6-- 5-points provide more protection for the spine- and distributes crash forces more equally. (the link talks about rear facing—but the same principal of bone development applies to the booster vs 5-point argument).
http://www.windsorpeak.com/dc/dcboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=13&topic_id=44503&mode=full&page

Booster to just the seat belt—

There’s a 5 question ‘test’ the child should be able to pass. People are working hard for the law to be changed to 4’9’’ and at least 80 pounds—but here’s the test they recommend—if they answer is “no” to any of the questions- they are not ready. They should be in a high back booster to the limit (provided in the manual) of the seat- then in a no back booster until they “pass the test” (and are 4'9'' and 80 pounds).
1. Does the child sit all the way back against the auto seat?
2. Do the child's knees bend comfortably at the edge of the auto seat?
3. Does the belt cross the shoulder between the neck and arm?
4. Is the lap belt as low as possible, touching the thighs?
5. Can the child stay seated like this for the whole trip?
Some people add a number 6—that the child’s feet can rest flat on the floor.
©SafetyBeltSafe USA

I am, by no means a pro-- but this is the info we've found. If you're wanting a recommendation for car seats... e-mail me (I'm not sure if I should recommend or caution against certain seats on this board so I'd prefer just e-mail etc). However, if you're looking yourself-- look for these things-- a seat that rear-faces until 30 pounds, harnesses until 65+ (unless you plan on buying another higher weight harnessing seat down the road), and has high top slots-- if you're looking to just buy one convertible seat you should aim for a 17 1/2-20 inch top slot. Be careful of seats that claim to be "the last seat you'll ever need"-- these say they hold "100 pounds"- but only harness until 40 pounds and convert into not so great boosters. They also tend to have low harness heights.

Hope this has been helpful!

Nicole

Happy Independence Day

We Partied Like It Was 1999...

Saturday was crazy fun. My cousin Mandy married Randy and they had an awesome reception for their close family and friends. Their wedding may have been "the event of the year" at least until Mark and MacKenzie's wedding in a few weeks. They had three bands-- first guy-- was honestly one of the best cover guy's I've heard, second was Rock Star Graham Parker (no seriously, he was big in the late 70's, and he was there!), and third was a really great band 7 million Gigawatts (or something similar-- sorry if I'm butchering this one). Anyway- we danced our hearts out-- espeically Matt and Kayla-- and partied until 12:30am!!! (Our kids can really pull it together when good music is involved).

We had a great time!

Matt and Kayla warm up the dance floor (by the end of the night, it was packed).






Julie and mommy-- clearly something was more interesting to Julie than looking at the camera.